'No One Knows About Persian Cats' review: Everybody wants to be a cat...

Another winner of the Un Certain Regard prize at last year’s Cannes film festival (I reviewed ‘Father of My Children’, here last month and a review for 'Dogtooth' will follow shortly), Bahman Ghobadi’s ‘No One Knows About Persian Cats’ is a fresh and exciting piece of Iranian filmmaking. It is reminiscent of 2007’s French animation ‘Persepolis’ which also looked at “western” music in Iran and managed to combine this with a broader critique of social and political problems, to similarly great effect. But whilst that film’s protagonist (Marjane) manages to leave Iran fairly early on in the narrative (and make it to the promised land of Europe), the two central characters in ‘Persian Cats’ spend the entire movie working towards that goal, in the hope of pursuing a musical career which is impossible in their native country. The “indie rock” they play is illegal and they must acquire exit visas to leave Iran, making them the Persian equivalents of Paul Henreid and Ingrid Bergman in ‘Casablanca’.

At the film’s start they have just been released from prison for playing a concert. Their dream of touring Europe sees them embark on a ‘Wizard of Oz’ style journey, encountering a number of different musicians as they hope to build a new band. Along the way we are taken on a tour of the contemporary Iranian underground music scene and a range of musical styles (rap, traditional, folk, heavy metal) thriving in a variety of makeshift venues (a cow shed, a rooftop shack). Whenever Negar and Ashkan are introduced to a new group of musicians we are shown a pastiche music video, which apes the conventions of that generic style. These have been cleverly edited together by Iranian musician Farbod Khoshtinat and are set to images of everyday Iranian life (people walking the streets of Tehran, buying goods or driving cars) in a way which serves to underline the fact that Iran is a modern city, perhaps too often accompanied on film by traditional Persian music. In fact, within the film traditional Iranian music is at one point described as “world music” – as seemingly distant from some modern Iranians as it is to us.

Much of film focuses on the exciting possibility of the duo putting on a farewell rock concert and the excitement that generates (especially evident near the film’s climax as the underground venue is prepared for the show) reminds us of the simple pleasures we are lucky enough to take for granted: the right to assemble in a group, to dance, to mix with people of the opposite gender, to drink alcohol and to listen to non-religious music. All of these things are being done in secret in ‘Persian Cats’, and without that detachment and jaded irony associated with western counterculture: people are enthusiastic and happy. The Iranian music scene is exciting and cool in the film, without trying to be edgy. In a country where people face real hardships, I suppose they don’t tend to wear misery as a badge of honour. As an upshot of this much of the music is really charming, especially that of the charismatic lead duo.

There is also some really funny stuff in the film, with the duo turning to a fast-talking and delusional movie bootlegger called Nader (Hamed Behdad) in order to arrange their escape. Nader occasionally speaks in English, quoting movie dialogue and there are numerous scenes where he references American films and actors to good comic effect. There is also lot of fun to be had here with Iranian views of American culture. One of the best examples sees a Muslim lady, wearing traditional clothes, saying “I love indie rock! 50 Cent, Madonna!” When she expresses an interest in seeing the farewell concert, Negar replies “God willing you will.” This mixture of western influences and popular culture, alongside earnest commitment to Iranian tradition and religion helps to stop ‘Persian Cats’ from seeming shallow or polemical. As Negar says at the beginning, she doesn’t want to protest, she just wants to play music.

The main point seems to be that these young people would like to be able to play their music in Iran and that the regime is driving otherwise law abiding people out with such intolerant extremism. Indeed Bahman Ghobadi has since left Iran, robbing the country of one of its most prestigious directors and of a founder of the so-called "Iranian New Wave". But the film itself is far from an all-out attack on the governing regime: the most overtly political song is the rap (see the video below), but even that isn’t about religion, but rather takes the more universal theme of social inequality in a world controlled by money. A point which could be made in any country on the Earth. This capitalist mentality is evident when Negar and Ashkan visit one of the film’s bands: the group start talking about their aspirations, all of which are material and sound like something from an episode of MTV Cribs. The film’s earlier comic references to “western” culture (Nicholas Cage, Paramount Pictures etc) could now sound like part of a more sinister hegemonic cultural imperialism. Of course, the film is ultimately against the intolerance and the violence of the Iranian government, but it does not make its points in a way shich is clumsy or unconsidered.

Aesthetically, the film sometimes looks a little amateurish and the music video sequences (whilst clever) can seem a little cheesy. But that said, ‘No One Knows About Persian Cats’ is an enjoyable and at times poignant look at a modern Tehran, which provides a really good insight into the social and cultural life of that city. The film tantalisingly blurs the line between fact and fiction in many ways. For example, the lead actors (Ashkan Kooshanejad and Negar Shaghaghi) boast the same first names as their characters and the bands they encounter are real bands playing themselves. But more relevant and interesting is the movie’s opening scene in which a character talks of a great movie that will be made about the underground music scene in Iran. After seeing ‘Persian Cats’ I was left in no doubt that this is that great movie.



Hopefully you can find the film playing in an arts cinema near you. 'No One Knows About Persian Cats' is rated '12a' by the BBFC.

'Whip It' review: Barrymore's entertaining directing debut

With her debut feature, ‘Whip It’, Drew Barrymore asserts herself as a capable filmmaker, after years in front of the camera and many spent behind the scenes as a producer (on projects as diverse as ‘Donnie Darko’, ‘Music and Lyrics’ and ‘Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle’). But whilst it is hardly surprising that someone raised in the movies should take so easily to making them, it is surprising just how much fun ‘Whip It’ actually is. Boasting the quirky, colourful aesthetics that have almost become the house-style at Fox Searchlight, set to a soundtrack selected by Randall Poster (music supervisor on all the Wes Anderson films) and starring Ellen Page (of ‘Juno’ fame), ‘Whip It’ is well-placed to become an firm “indie” favourite, and deservedly so.

Ellen Page stars as Bliss Cavendar who becomes “Babe Ruthless” when she takes up the alternative, amateur, all-girl US sport of roller derby. Dragged to beauty pageants by pushy mother (played by Marcia Gay Harden), Bliss sees roller derby as a better match for her personality and soon befriends a group of social misfits of varying ages and backgrounds, who are a better match for her quirky, off-beat personality than the fellow students at her high school. She lives in a small Texan town and also sees roller derby as a means of escape to the more exciting and vibrant life possible in the state capital, Austin. This teenage coming of age story takes place, to pleasing effect, alongside the well-worn clichés of the sports movie genre (the rival team; the tough but fair coach; shots of the scoreboard; the big final game; etc).

The best thing about ‘Whip It’ is the sense of fun which runs through the film, aided in no small part by a terrific cast of supporting players: Jimmy Fallon is a charming presence as the derby commentator, Juliette Lewis was born to play Bliss’s sporting rival “Iron Maven” and Daniel Stern is a suitably warm and likable presence as Bliss’s father. The real comic highlight is Andrew Wilson’s brilliant, understated comic performance as the girl’s coach “Razor”, which feels straight out of a Wes Anderson movie and is a consistent delight. It is nice to see him in a sizable role and here he makes his biggest impression since he turned up as “Future Man” alongside his brothers (Owen and Luke) in 1996’s ‘Bottle Rocket’. It is also nice to see Drew Barrymore give herself a small role as “Smashley Simpson”, the most violent member of Ellen Page’s team of roller derby heroes.

There is a palpable sense of joy throughout this movie, which resolves one key confrontation with a light-hearted food fight (cinema’s first since ‘Hook’ in 1991?). One of the great things about ‘Whip It’ is the way in which the derby girls swing elbows and break each others noses with real intent. It is great to such a tough attitude in a film primarily aimed at young girls. Bliss’s decision to give up pageants isn’t simply cosmetic, as it might be in so many other films (probably symbolised by dark eye makeup and wrist bands). Here it’s actually backed-up by an attitude, which is (crucially) about standing up for yourself, as opposed to being anti-social and starting fights.

Where the film suffers is in its third act in which the pacing takes a dip and the laughs cease during the inevitable “down” section of the movie where everything contrives to go wrong all at once for Page’s plucky hero. Some of these threads are necessary for the story of the film: most notably Bliss has to convince her mother that she should be able to take part in roller derby rather than beauty pageants. However, the thread concerning the temporary break-up of her friendship with Alia Shawkat’s character is a major drag and undermines the rest of the movie, which succeeds in convincing us that they are really best friends (who you’d have thought wouldn’t be so prone to irrational implosion). The other low point is the male love interest Oliver, played by Landon Pigg (apparently a singer-songwriter new to acting). Whilst the individual tender moments written for the romantic scenes are fairly sweet, Pigg is just too wet-behind-the-ears and the film becomes a lot less enjoyable when he is onscreen.

Overall, ‘Whip It’ is a confident and thoroughly enjoyable directorial debut for Drew Barrymore. It manages to have an authentic “sisters doing it for themselves” feel, without being tacky or patronising and whilst it didn’t perform amazingly well in the North American Box Office, ‘Whip It’ may eventually find an audience later on (on TV and DVD) and stake its claim for “cult classic” status. But before then: if you’re up for a good time at the pictures, you could do much worse then to buy a ticket for this funny and charming film.

'Whip It' is on general release in the UK and is rated '12A' by the BBFC.

'I Am Love' review, plus the new (and last?) Splendor podcast...

Regular readers (hello mum and dad) may have noticed that this blog has not really been updated with its usual frequency in the last week or so. This has been due to my work for Obsessed With Film, for whom I interviewed Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant and reviewed their latest film 'Cemetery Junction'. During that time I saw 'I Am Love', but have only just been able to take the time to review it here. It is a bit shorter than my usual reviews on here, but I wanted to get something down before I forgot everything about the film! On a seperate note: there is a new Splendor Cinema podcast up in the player at the side of this blog. It is labelled episode seven because whilst the 'Kick-Ass' episode got put up on iTunes, it was the victim of a staff holiday at the Picturehouse site and so seems to have been passed by. When the latest episode appears on iTunes it will (correctly) be number eight.

And number eight, in which Jon and I tackle the subject of the future of cinema and of piracy, may well be the last Splendor Cinema podcast... ever. But have no fear gentle listener! We are re-branding it the "Obsessed With Film" podcast and it will continue in the same vein, but hopefully reaching a larger audience. So keep on listening.

Anyway, here is the 'I Am Love' review:



‘I Am Love’ is an Italian film produced by (and starring) Tilda Swinton and directed by Luca Guadagnino. According to Swinton the film was conceived in part as a tribute to filmmakers “whose claim on the development of the cinematic language is unassailable”. ‘I Am Love’ is apparently “an attempt to honour this kind of bravado” from these great artists who so advanced film as an art form. But whereas the works of Hitchock, Huston and Kubrick (three of the filmmakers cited as influences) were always constructed to appeal to an audience and to provide entertainment, ‘I Am Love’ is content to pander to an art house crowd who will no doubt call it “a sumptuous and sublime work” and will remind us that “Swinton is superb!”. Guadagnino and Swinton may feel that they have paid a tribute to the greats in terms of their execution of the cinematic form as a “toolkit” (again Swinton’s words), but none of the excitement of ‘North by Northwest’ or ‘The Maltese Falcon’ or ‘A Clockwork Orange’ can be felt in this formal exercise in pretension.

Some individual scenes are truly excellent. The film expertly evokes the feeling of a late summer afternoon, with especially beautiful sunlit scenes depicted on Yorick Le Saux’s camera. Le Saux also worked with Swinton on ‘Julia’ and it is easy to see why she would have asked him back for this project: the cinematography is faultless. Similarly evocative is John Adams operatic score, which lends a level of grandeur to the occasion and renders the films visual elegance audible. I would also say that some key scenes and moments did affect me, with one of the film’s key revelations occurring in a purely visual way – surely the mark of the purest kind of cinema. Furthermore, I enjoyed the way in which Edo (Swinton’s favourite son) subtly mirrors his father (and the whole family) in his treatment of women throughout the film and also how the daughter’s homosexuality (an early plot development) is treated with tenderness and real love.

However, despite these admirable qualities the film generally kept me at arms length throughout. It feels like more of a showcase for Tilda Swinton’s undoubted talent, rather than a story that needed to be told. There was one brief chase sequence that alluded to the Hitchcockian influence with it’s pacing and sense of urgency. But the rest of film moves at a wearying pace, as the filmmakers hope that the undoubted visual splendor will keep you hooked. Long, well-composed shots of people sitting around nicely-lit tables can only hold my attention for so long and as early as twenty minutes into the films two hours I found myself bored, however much I really want to admire and applaud anyone who so earnestly celebrates the cinematic.

I can see how, in the age of ‘Transformers 2’ and ‘The Bounty Hunter’, this sort of ambitious and self-indulgent cinema might appeal to those who hunger for something with a bit of substance. But for me, ‘I Am Love’ is an example of the opposite extreme, for as much as ‘Transformers’ is so brazenly artless, ‘I Am Love’ is an example of art for arts sake - which to my mind is ultimately just as artless in the final analysis. Great art doesn’t (or shouldn’t) primarily aspire to be art. ‘I Am Love’ certainly sings of its artiness from the well-lit rooftops of its many splendid Milanese villas. But then maybe it is only fitting that a film entitled ‘I Am Love’ should be so enamored with itself.

'I Am Love' is still playing across the UK in selected screens, including Brighton's own Duke of York's Picturehouse. It is rated '15' by the BBFC.

'Cemetery Junction' review: Check it out at OWF

My review will not be posted here this time! It is up on Obsessed With Film here.

I hope you head over there and enjoy it! Just so you don't leave empty handed, check out this clip from the movie:



Also, check out my interview with the writer/director team behind the film here.

A Conversation with Gervais and Merchant...

As promised at the end of last weeek, here is a link to Obsessed With Film and my interview with Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, who talked to me to promote their new film 'Cemetery Junction'. My review will be up on the same site on Wednesday, so I'm told.

I won't publish the whole thing on here (I don't know that I'm allowed) but I'll put a taster here to encourage you to read the full article:

Robert Beames: Even though you obviously write these moments and you know Emily Watson is a really good actress so you’re not too surprised, but does it still surprise you at the end of the day when you’re watching dailies and you see your words…

Ricky Gervais: Yes. Yes. Absolutely.

Stephen Merchant: Those people always bring something extra.

RG: The way she does that and people like that underplay it. At the time you don’t think anything of it, but when you look back at it on a screen they fill your heart. Honestly, they’ve got something else, they’ve got an alchemy. It’s indescribable and I don’t know how they do it. And that’s the difference between a great actor and a film star and you can be both. There about fifty people in the world who are both.

SM: Well Ralph Fiennes turned up and I think the first thing he did was that big…

RG: Speech. Remarkable.

SM: Wasn’t it? That big monologue he’s giving the guy and [Merchant rhythmically slaps his hands] he came in word perfect, bam, there in front of two hundred extras, nailed it. We were embarrassed; we didn’t have any direction to give him… “do you want to do it again?”


Go and read the full article now!!!

T'was 'Cemetery Junction' day in Soho!

I don't know how much I can really say much about today as I need to give the articles to the website that kindly commissioned them: Obsessed With Film and their generous editor Matt Holmes. But what I can say is that I saw 'Cemetery Junction', the first film by the Gervais/Merchant comedy writing team, at Sony's Soho office (in the world’s most comfortable theatre and on a brilliant screen!) You can read my review shortly (and on OWF). Afterwards, I was lucky enough to be invited to the Soho Hotel where I saw Zach Braff milling around the lobby (and I also passed that guy Lizo from 'Newsround' in the street on the way in). Once at the hotel, I attended a press junket on the second floor, where I was lucky enough to snag a 10 minute interview with Gervais and Merchant themselves (which will also go up on OWF when it's done)!

It was basically like that scene in 'Notting Hill' where Hugh Grant tries to get into a junket as an excuse to talk to Julia Roberts again (only without the possibility of romance, sadly). I really enjoyed the whole experience greatly. Happily, the duo were nice enough to sign my copy of the press notes and a copy of this month's Total Film (which they have guest edited), which I shall treasure.

Anyway, stay tuned at OWF to read my thoughts when they are uploaded. I'll remind you again on here when they are anyway, but got to OWF all the same.

'Cemetery Junction' is rated '15' by the BBFC. It is released on the 14th of April in cinemas everywhere!

'Lourdes' review: My Sweet Lourdes

‘Lourdes’ is a French film (by Austrian director Jessica Hausner) which follows Christine (Sylvie Testud, also seen in the Oscar-winning ‘La Vie en Rose’ in 2007), a woman paralysed from the neck down, as she goes on a pilgrimage to the iconic Catholic site named in the title. There is the sense in ‘Lourdes’ that Christine is possibly not drawn to the journey by her Catholicism, but by the fact that joining up with the group of nuns (who take parties of wheelchair bound people on this pilgrimage) is enabling her to see more of the world: “It is difficult to travel in a wheelchair” Christine tellingly admits early on. But Christine is not cynical or manipulative and has the best intensions. She is not unmoved by Catholic doctrine either, as she clings to the hope that a divine miracle will help her to walk again, a hope encouraged in dreams of the Virgin Mary.

For someone as irreligious as I, the films greatest pleasures are found in its representation of the tacky and crassly commercial side of Catholicism as an organisation, with Mary figurines readily on sale at Holy sites and gaudy neon halo’s adorning many of the Mary statues seen in the film. Similarly, the pilgrims take their group photo on a bench designed exactly for such a purpose outside one religious monument and Christine herself refers to ‘Lourdes’ as “too touristy” and finds it lacking in culture. Amusingly the music on the soundtrack seems to imply commerciality even to the films version of the Ava Maria, which sounds cheesy and synthesized. The film even culminates at a Catholic disco.



But to say that the film is itself anti-Catholic would be unfair and the things I have seen as evidence of commerciality and opportunism could be seen differently by those coming to the film with a different outlook. As the (usually still) camera lingers on scenes of the pilgrims eating dinner, it is up to the viewer to decide where to look and what to make of what is happening during a number of terrifically detailed scenes. It can also be said that the pilgrims themselves seem sincere, as do the majority of the nuns and priests depicted (with the possible exception of a young nun who seems to view the pilgrimage as a Catholic holiday camp and an alternative to summer skiing). Most telling of all is the fact that the film doesn’t do anything to discourage the idea that divine miracles can and do happen. This is another detail which helps to keep the film pleasantly ambiguous and stops it from seeming at all polemical.

Instead of asking the question “do miracles happen?” the film looks at who they may happen to and is mostly concerned with the reactions of people to potential miracles. Perhaps (the film posits) miracles may happen to the nicest people, not necessarily the most pious, and the film would seem to suggest that the two are not necessarily linked. Christine is never mean to anyone, even though she would have cause: she is frequently patronised for being in her condition and sometimes forgotten or ignored by the nun assigned to care for her. She is only really interested in making the best of things. By contrast some of her more pious co-pilgrims seem to gossip and view the receipt of a miracle as some sort of competitive sport.

To say that ‘Lourdes’ is a slow moving film of subtle observations and small moments would be an understatement, as to many it would probably fit the description that “nothing happens”. There is a story here, but it is slight (and I have done my level best not to spoil it here). It is in the interactions of the characters and specifically their treatment of Christine that the film is strongest. It is odd perhaps that a film that accepts the possibility of miracles could be so matter of fact and naturalistic, but maybe that is the point: in a world where miracles exist (and are indeed scrutinized and recorded by the Church) are miracles simply as banal as everything else?

'Lourdes' is playing in a select number of screens across the UK and can be seen at the Duke of York's in Brighton until Thursday. It is rated a 'U' by the BBFC.